Qi Yan transmigrated. The good news was that she had become an unloved prince in the imperial palace, and was about to receive her own fief and head off to enjoy life.
The bad news was that the prince was a woman in disguise, and she was about to get married.
There was no way around it. By convention, a prince had to marry before receiving a fief.
So, after secretly sounding out her future bride and learning that the other woman was willing to marry her even knowing she was impotent, Qi Yan had no choice but to make her suffer through a temporary marriage, then figure out a way to divorce her later.
After that, Qi Yan happily packed her bags and took her new bride to her fief.
But there was an even worse piece of news: the fief was so barren that it was practically the poorest of them all.
Still, having land of her own was much better than being trapped in the imperial palace, constantly worried that her identity would be exposed.
So Qi Yan rolled up her sleeves and set about making sweeping changes to her fief.
The roads were all dirt tracks, so rough you could barely walk on them? Then she would build roads.
No money? Qi Yan looked at the gold mine unearthed in her fief and smiled with satisfaction.
No food? Then she'd buy the finest seeds and grow them herself.
Little by little, Qi Yan's fief transformed from a desolate wasteland into a thriving place, attracting many people from the surrounding areas who came to join her.
It was only then that Qi Yan realized that the beautiful, capable bride who had been managing everything behind her was, like her, a man disguised as a woman.
What could she do? Forgive him, of course.
And so Qi Yan quietly carried on with her infrastructure projects in her fief, until one day she suddenly heard that the younger son her father had favored as heir had fought with the eldest son, and both had been so badly wounded that neither survived.
Seeing what had happened, the other children naturally began to stir, each thinking they had a chance to take the throne.
Qi Yan looked at her flourishing fief and slowly put on a benevolent smile.
Everyone, I think I could compete for the throne too.
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PS: The heroine becomes emperor, while the hero handles logistics.
Theme: Farm the land well
